COTABATO CITY -- Defying dominant voting patterns in many parts of the country, administration loyalists are delivering the vaunted 12-0 sweep in Maguindanao province for Team Unity (TU) candidates -- with Gov. Luis ?Chavit? Singson as the topnotcher, based on early returns.

Administration strategists say such a vote shows the power of the political machine expressed through bloc voting.

To local officials, it is the power of the shura at play -- a system of consultations where people are encouraged to reach a consensus on matters of public concern, elections among them.

The 12-0 vote for the TU ticket, based on initial returns from Maguindanao?s 27 towns (total voting population: 336,000), followed warnings from some watchdog groups about an alleged administration plan to cheat in the elections under an operation code-named ?Oplan Mercury Rising.?

The Maguindanao vote also coincided with warnings from opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. about an alleged administration plot to rig the votes in the country?s southern region.

?The cheating machinery of the administration is now at work in Mindanao,? Pimentel said Wednesday.

Maguindanao was one of the provinces mentioned in the ?Hello Garci? tape scandal involving wiretapped conversations allegedly between President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano on rigging votes in Mindanao during the 2004 elections. Ms Arroyo and Garcillano denied the allegations.

As of 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, partial results from 11 Maguindanao towns showed Singson, the governor of Ilocos Sur province, topping the senatorial races with 87,954 votes.

Right behind Singson was Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay with 87,400 votes.

Others in the top 12 in Maguindanao were Bukidnon Rep. Miguel Zubiri, 86,698 votes; Joker Arroyo, 85,881; Vicente Sotto III, 85,115; Ralph Recto, 82,780; Mike Defensor, 81,914; Cesar Montano, 78,246; Vicente Magsaysay, 65,986; Teresita Aquino-Oreta, 64,386; Edgardo Angara, 63,422; and Sulu?s Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, 63,071 votes.

Trailing in his own backyard

Singson?s No. 1 ranking in Maguindanao sharply contrasted with his nationwide ranking in the count of the National Citizens? Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), which put him on the 23rd spot Wednesday afternoon.

Singson also appeared to be faring badly in his own Ilocos region.

Although he was No. 1 in his home province of Ilocos Sur, he was ranked No. 15 in Ilocos Norte, No. 21 in Pangasinan and No. 28 in La Union, according to unofficial returns.

In the Maguindanao tally, Genuine Opposition (GO) candidates Francis Escudero got 27,625 votes; Aquilino Pimentel III, 20,485; Loren Legarda, 20,404, and Manuel Villar, 17,095.

Ampatuan as kingmaker

Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas Wednesday said the emerging sweep by TU was a result of extensive consultations held by provincial Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan with all officials of the province?s local government units.

Ampatuan, who has allied himself with Ms Arroyo, was a former policeman who became a successful businessman. He is viewed as Maguindanao?s de facto sultan and kingmaker.

The TU has said that so-called ?command votes? from its bailiwicks would push administration candidates to the top of the senatorial races.

?Are they not tired of accusing us of an unfounded plan to cheat? That?s totally baseless,? TU?s campaign strategist Ben Evardone said, rejecting opposition claims that the administration was rigging the votes.

Unas said one objective of the consultations that Ampatuan held with officials was to get people to go for bloc voting. The consultations included such matters as who the people should choose as their leaders.

Consensus

Unas said observers should look at Maguindanao?s distinct political reality in the context of the Prophet Muhammad?s teachings, and shura is part of these.

Failure to heed the consensus is sanctioned, said Unas, who did not specify what punishment awaited those who defied the consensus.

?We often land in the headlines because of perceived manipulation, but if you become familiar with the (Islamic) culture of consultation, you would find nothing unusual,? said Unas.

Unas said the outcome of the senatorial races in Maguindanao should be attributed to shura.

He said command vote existed in Maguindanao because of the provincial leadership?s ?strong advocacy of upholding Moro tradition and culture.?

Doubtful credibility

In Lanao del Sur, poll monitors and foreign observers said Monday?s elections in the province drew a large turnout but their credibility was doubtful.

Hadj Abdullah Dalidig, Namfrel provincial chair, said the same incidents ?that spoiled the 2004 and even previous elections? marred Monday?s balloting.

The incidents included armed confrontations among rivals, intimidation of voters and massive vote-buying, the influx of truckloads of flying voters, and disenfranchisement of legitimate ones.

Pakistani observer Mossarat Qadeem said there was massive ?use of money or power to force voters to vote for a candidate.?

Although the turnout was high, Qadeem doubted that the people in general ?have real feelings for its (election?s) essence.?

Jump in number of voters

Dalidig said the ?unexplained growth? of the province?s voting population was ?the foremost proof of irregularity.?

From 275,572 in 2004, the number of registered voters in the province rose to 396,722, an increase of 43.9 percent in three years.

For Marawi City, the voting population jumped to 56,476, from 37,231 in 2004, a 51.7-percent increase.

These numbers dwarfed those in Northern Mindanao, one of the island?s magnets of migrants. The region had 2,128,568 registered voters in 2007, a 4-percent increase from 2,046,557 in 2004.

The supposed growth in Lanao del Sur?s voting population occurred as thousands of legitimate voters were disenfranchised. Many of them searched for their names in the other precincts until 3 p.m., to no avail.

The civil society-initiated People?s International Observer Mission (IOM) also documented the practice of allowing minors as young as 15 to 16 years old to vote.

Flying voters also littered the province.

The women disguised themselves by wearing a kumbong (veil) as they lined up to enter a polling center. But they could not hide their accents.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, learned many of them came from Iligan City and other towns. Some came from as far as Cagayan de Oro City.

Conditions for fraud

In many areas, polling centers opened two hours behind schedule, lessening voting time.

The delays led to a buildup of throngs of voters and to chaos in polling centers.

According to American observer Jessica Tulloch, the chaos created ?all the conditions for cheating and fraud? to take place.

The IOM delegates found that vote-buying and coaching of voters inside election precincts were ?very rampant with the poll watchers sitting beside voters dictating the names to be written on the ballots.?

Some election monitors were worried about the frequency of brownouts, which could abet cheating.

The Commission on Elections has declared a failure of elections in 18 towns in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

In Koronadal City, a pastor of the Pentecostal church accused two congressional candidates of distributing five kilos of rice for each family in the province.

In Zamboanga del Norte province, vote-buying was also rampant.

?I don?t receive anything from government, anyway, so I?d rather accept the P1,500 for my vote,? said a voter in Dapitan City, its capital.

But in Sulu province, the police said they were surprised by how relatively peaceful the conduct of the elections was.

Targeted areas for cheating

Quoting a purported intelligence report on ?Oplan Mercury Rising,? the coalition Bantay Boto -- composed of retired military and police officers -- claimed the areas targeted for massive cheating were the provinces of Ilocos Sur, Pampanga, Camarines Norte, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Eastern Samar, Lanao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Shariff Kabunsuan.

The regions identified for alleged fraud operations were Central Visayas, Davao, Caraga and the ARMM.

These areas are estimated to have close to 15 million voters.

Bantay Boto said local government and Comelec officials had been ?offered huge cash incentives? to deliver a 12-0 win for TU. With reports from Michael Lim Ubac in Manila, Jeffrey M. Tupas, Germelina Lacorte, Ramil Bangues, Julie S. Alipala, Jeoffrey Maitem, Bert Laput, Franklin Caliguid, Edwin O. Fernandez, Ferdinand O. Zuasola, JB Deveza and Inquirer Mindanao